The New
Statistical Account of Scotland (1845)Volume XII - AberdeenThe Marischal College and
University of Aberdeen

[Drawn up by Professor
William Knight, LL. D.]

As soon as the Reformation had received a legal
establishment in Scotland, an attempt was made to improve the three
Universities then existing in the country, and in the First Book of
Discipline of 1560, many alterations in their government and teaching
were proposed, with a view to accommodate them to the great change in
religion which had taken place. In a few years afterwards, new charters
or erections were given to these seminaries, and partially put in force;
the University of Edinburgh was founded; and the city of Aberdeen, then
ranking as the second or third in respect of wealth and population in
the kingdom, received a similar establishment. A grammar-school, which
had produced many eminent scholars, had existed in it for nearly two
centuries; and the magistrates and citizens appear to have been
exceedingly desirous of propagating the principles of the reformed
faith, in connection with the advancement of learning and science. In
the principal Protestant family of the north of Scotland, they were
fortunate in finding a nobleman, who seconded them warmly in this
design, and became the founder of the fifth and last University which
has been established in the country.

This eminent person was George Keith, the fifth Earl
Marischal, who succeeded to the large estates and influence of his
grandfather, William, in 1581. His ancestor had been an eminent promoter
of the reformed cause from its commencement, and paid great attention to
the education of his grandson in the principles which he had himself
adopted. After receiving the best education Scotland afforded, the young
nobleman spent nearly seven years on the continent, during which he
visited most of its courts, and studied under eminent masters,
particularly at Geneva, under the learned Beza. He afterwards rose into
great favour with James VI., and was sent to
Denmark as ambassador extraordinary, to arrange the King's marriage with
the Princess Anne. Soon after his return, he received a commission of
Lord-lieutenancy overall the counties of the
north of Scotland, with the view of checking the Roman Catholic party
opposed to the government; a task which he accomplished without
bloodshed. [The following account of his
character is from a short "Opinion of the present
State, Faction, Religion, and Power of the
Nobility of Scotland," written in1583, and evidently intended for the
information of Queen Elizabeth or her ministers. -"George
Keith, Marshall, a young nobleman, of good commendation; his lynnige
ancient, and revenow greatest of any Erle in Scotlande. * * * He was
left very wealthye, and is esteemed honest,
religious, and favouringe the best parte. — Banna-tyne
Club Publication, 1842, p. 58.]

The plan of establishing a college in Aberdeen having
been com-municated to him by the magistrates, and the royal authority ha
ing been obtained, an appropriate site was found in the buildings and
garden which had belonged to the Franciscan friars. This property,
having passed into other hands, was purchased by the magistrates for
1800 merks, and, by a vote of the community, presented to the Earl, who
had obtained from the crown a right to the property of the other
monastic bodies in the city.

The preamble of the foundation charter, which is
dated 2d April 1593, recites, at considerable length, the reasons which
induced the Founder to establish and endow his seminary. Among these
are, the great want of a literary and Christian education in the north
of Scotland, the advantages that would follow to the Church and the
State, and his own wish to benefit and deserve well of his country. The
property bestowed on the college is then described, being the fields,
houses, feu-duties, and annual rents, which, before the Reformation,
belonged to the Black, White, and Grey Friars' monasteries in Aberdeen,
together with the lands attached to the chapels of Bervie and Cowie in
Kincardineshire; but the latter portion was revoked by a second charter
given by his son and successor, the sixth Earl, in 1623. The whole
revenue was appropriated for the maintenance of a Principal, three
Professors, who were termed Regents, six poor Scholars or Bursars, an
Economus, and a cook, all to live in a collegiate manner, eating and
sleeping within the buildings. The Principal was to give instructions in
theology, and also in Hebrew and Syriac, languages which the founder
expresses a desire of propagating, besides continuing the curriculum of
the education of the other students, during their fourth year of
residence, in various branches of physical science. The subjects taught
by the first or highest regent were, mathematics, ethical philosophy,
and physics; those of the second regent were, the logic of the Organon,
with exercises in the Greek and Latin languages; the latter, together
with an introduction to dialectics, being the employment of the third or
lowest regent. This curriculum of four years is minutely laid down, and
is almost exactly the same as in the foundation of Edinburgh College,
and in the new erections given to the other Universities of Scotland. A
principal circumstance is the fixing of each teacher to a particular
class of subjects, in order, as is stated, that the students may possess
teachers worthy both of their genius, and of the subjects of study. The
same plan is prescribed in the First Book of Discipline; but it never
appears to have been carried into practice in any Scottish university
till the eighteenth century, excepting in Marischal College; [That
the professors in Marischal College were limited to particular branches
for several years after its commencement, is evident from their
designations in College Theses, and other publications. Thus, in the "Qratio
Funebris" of the founder, printed by Raban in 1623, William Ogston
is styled Professor of Moral Philosophy; William Wedderburn, of Greek;
Andrew Massie, of Logic; and James Sibbald, of Natural Philosophy ;
these being the four regents. In Bishop Forbes's "Funerals," 1635, John
Ray styles himself Professor of Moral Philosophy in Marischal College.
This separation of duties appears to have been continued so late as 1643
, but the year when the ordinary method was introduced cannot be stated
with certainty.] the mode of one professor conducting the same
students for a period of three or four years through all the sciences
taught being substituted for it. In Marischal College, indeed, the
founder allows of the old method being continued, provided the
chancellor, rector, and other authorities shall think it best for the
good of the university'. He enjoins a strict attention to examinations
and exercises in all the classes, besides examinations at entering the
first year, and in passing from the first to the second, from the second
to the third, and from the third to the fourth class; care being taken
that those who are unworthy be kept back; and those who have studied
four years, and exhibited sufficient aptitude, are to receive the degree
of Master of Arts.

The founder reserved to himself and his heirs the
nomination or presentation of the principal and professors; but since
the forfeiture of the Marischal family, in 1715, the patronage has been
vested in the Crown. The mode in which the examination, election, and
admission of incumbents, subsequent to their receiving presentations, is
appointed to be regulated by the university authorities, has been seldom
practised, and some of the provisions are apparently inconsistent with
the patronage retained by the founder in his family. The rest of the
charter, and indeed its larger part, is occupied in providing for the
choosing of an economus, adjusting the quality and prices of provisions,
keeping up a constant visitation and inspection of all the inmates,
regulating minutely the discipline, dress, and hours of the day for
teaching and recreation, the amount of fees to be paid by different
ranks of society, the menial services to be performed by the founded
bursars to the other students, the prohibition of bearing arms of every
description, the profession of adherence to the Confession of Faith then
sactioned by law, at least once a year, dum albo Universita-tis
inscribuntur; together with other provisions, most of which have
been altered or discontinued in the changes of time. Other parts
regulate the mode of electing annually the rector and dean of faculty,
and prescribe the qualifications and duties of the university officers,
which, as in the courses of study above-mentioned, are the same as were
given in that age to the other colleges of Scotland, with which, in all
these respects, the new establishment was placed on a footing of
equality.

In the General Assembly which met at Dundee in April
1593, the foundation charter was approved and confirmed by the church
and in July following, an Act of Parliament conferred upon the seminary
all the usual freedoms, privileges, and jurisdictions of the other
colleges in the realm, with the exception of preserving the jurisdiction
of the magistrates of the burgh over its members "in all thingis to be
done or co'mitted be thame out wt the wallis of the said college, and
within the territores or fredome of the said burgh,"—a provision which
is nearly the same with that proposed in the First Book of Discipline,
many years previously. [Other Acts of
Parliament referring to Marischal College, or confirming its privileges,
are, A. D. 1617, (Vol. iv. p. 577,) Liddel's endowment; 1641, (Vol. v.
p. 565.) and 1644, (Vol. vi. p. 129,) Bishops' rents; 1661, (Vol. vii.
p. 69,) New confirmation of privileges, and virtual abrogation of the
United or Caroline University; 1663, (Vol. vii. p. 465,) power to send a
commissioner to a National Synod; 1695, (Vol. ix. p. 463.) allowing the
College to apply the vacant stipends of churches in Lord Marischal's
patronage to their buildings then erecting ; 1698, (Vol. x. p. 168.) the
same subject.]

In the year following, the deed of foundation was
formally presented by Earl Marischal to the magistrates and council of
Aberdeen, who immediately delivered it in a solemn manner, to Mr Robert
Howie, one of the city ministers, who entered upon the duties of
principal, and who signs as one of the witnesses of the charter. Howie
was an eminent divine, and in a few years succeeded Andrew Melville at
St Andrews. Of the other witness to the deed of foundation, Peter
Blackburn, who acted as one of the first regents, and was afterwards
Bishop of Aberdeen, Principal Bailie says, that "his hand was chief to
order your Marischall Colledge just after our orders of Glasgow."
[Letter to Professor W.
Douglass,—Baillie's Letters, edited by D. Laing, iii. p, 402.]

The new establishment demanded and received much
attention from the magistrates and community of Aberdeen, of which many
evidences appear in the town-council records. It is probable that an
additional regent was established in a very few years after the
foundation, from the Principal ceasing to teach the fourth or highest
class of the curriculum; the earliest accounts of the revenue which have
been preserved representing the whole as allocated to the principal and
four regents. The exertions of private citizens were also of great
service to the rising seminary. In 1613, Duncan Liddel, M. D., an
eminent scholar, who had taught medicine and mathematics, in the
University of Helmstadt, bequeathed a large sum of money and some lands,
for endowing a professor of Mathematics, and six bursars in Arts. A
divinity bursar was endowed in 1616 ; and in the same year a
professorship of Theology was founded, and five years afterwards an
additional sum was given for the same chair. In 1625, Mr Thomas Reid,
who had held the office of Latin secretary to James
VI., bequeathed his valuable collection of books, together with a
large sum for a salary to a librarian. Many other endowments, mostly for
bursars, were made during the seventeenth century. A professorship of
Humanity was commenced in 1653, from a grant of part of the rents of the
diocese of Aberdeen by Cromwell; but this fell at the Restoration, and a
subsequent attempt to have a separate teacher of Latin towards the end
of the century, was discontinued from the want of funds. During the
eighteenth century, professorships of Medicine, Oriental Languages, and
Chemistry were founded by private benefactors; and within these few
years, professorships of Church History, Anatomy, Surgery, and Humanity,
have been added by Government, and additional endowments have been given
to the professors of Chemistry and Medicine.

The following enumeration of the founders and
principal benefactors exhibits the gradual progress of the college to
its present state:

Plan of Education.—It does not appear that in the
Universities of the countries where the Reformation was established, any
great alteration in the curriculum of education was effected till a long
period after that event, if instruction in theology be excepted. The
principal changes were in the attention paid to the Greek language, and
the introduction of a somewhat larger proportion of mathematical
science. Yet the first Reformers and their immediate successors seem,
from many circumstances, to have been fully aware of the imperfections
of much of the philosophy of their time, and of its incompatibility with
the principles of freedom of inquiry, and appeal to the scriptures, upon
which they rested their claim of superiority to the Roman Catholic
Church. But the contests which arose and divided the Reformers
themselves and the wars, partaking more or less of a religious
character, which followed till the peace of Westphalia, were
circumstances adverse to the introduction of improved curricula of
study; and till the discoveries and systems of Descartes, Locke, and
Newton came forward and were taught in universities, there was little to
substitute in the room of the scholastic logic of the middle ages, which
had so long kept in trammels the powers of the mind in the search of
physical and psychological truth. The course of study came thus to vary
very little in Reformed and in Catholic Universities. The same professor
carried on the students with whom he commenced, for three or for four
years; and the attempt to confine each teacher to a particular branch
was, after a trial of many years, not followed in Marischal College any
more than in the other universities of Scotland, although enjoined in
its foundation charter. One advantage, indeed, it possessed over some
other seminaries, in the early possession of a separate endowment for a
professor who was confined to mathematical science. Of the numerous
visitations which took place during the seventeenth century, very few
had their attention directed towards the improvement of the plan of
teaching, although a subject into which they were generally ordered to
inquire. Those of 1664 and 1695 were especially for prescribing "a
course of learning;" and the plan adopted by the commissioners was to
draw up and circulate among the colleges copies of uniform "dictates,"
which all professors were to use in teaching philosophy and the
sciences;—a useless and impracticable undertaking, which after many
years labour was left as far as ever from being accomplished. The common
mode of teaching continued long afterwards to be by Latin dictations and
examinations upon them; and particular works of compilers in various
sciences were also used, and commented upon in oral instructions.

Besides frequent commissions of visitation, the Scots
Privy-Council often interfered with the Universities, in consequence of
the arbitrary power which that body exercised till its abolition after
the union of the kingdoms. To it was owing a useful order in 1700, by
which the teaching of the Greek language was allotted to one professor;
but this improvement was not carried into effect in Marischal College
till session 1717-18.

A visitation, by royal authority, of the University
of Glasgow in 1727, having ordered that each professor should be limited
to teaching one particular department, this led the way to an attempt by
the Principal and Professors of Marischal College to extend the same
benefit to their own seminary in 1733; but, from the opposition of one
of their number to the measure, it proved unsuccessful. Twenty years
afterwards the same plan succeeded, chiefly from the ability of Dr
Alexander Gerard, who drew up a "Plan of Education, with the Reasons of
it," which was adopted by his colleagues, and, with a few alterations,
has been followed since.

This publication is remarkable, not only for
assigning reasons for confining the professors of the curriculum of arts
to particular departments, but for a greater change,—the alteration of
the order in which the different branches of knowledge had hitherto been
taught in universities, both in this and in other countries. The
following extract from a college minute, dated 11th January 1753,
exhibits the substance of the reasons which were brought forward to
justify this change.

"The Principal and Masters of the Marischal College
of Aberdeen being, after the maturest consideration, all fully persuaded
that the present order in teaching Philosophy, introduced by the
Scholastics, is, since the reformation of Philosophy, very improper, —as
by it the students are all at once engaged in the most difficult
sciences, such as are most abstract from sense,—as they must be taught
the theory and foundations of evidence and reasoning before they are
acquainted with the sciences in which examples of the various kinds can
be found, so that it is impossible to explain or illustrate these
different kinds to them,—and as the difficulty of bringing them to
conceive these abstruse subjects, before they have been gradually
prepared by the easier parts of study, takes up so great a part of the
time allowed for academical education, as to leave none for some very
useful parts of knowledge; being also of opinion, that the gradual
openings of the human mind, as well as the natural order of things,
render it proper to begin with particular facts, which are subject to
sense, or easily conceived; from these to proceed to general reasonings
on objects which are most familiar, material things; and, last of all,
to come to the abstruser inquiries concerning the operations, nature,
and states of the mind, the Deity, and Moral Philosophy founded on them;
and hoping that the following this natural order will tend to render the
study of the sciences more advantageous in life than it is generally
thought to be, and will remove the prejudices some have entertained
against university education as useless, -
they do, therefore, unanimously agree and resolve, that for the future
(the first year of the Academical course being spent as usual under the
professor of Greek, and the meetings on Sabbath evenings in all the
classes as formerly, in discourses on such subjects of natural and
revealed Religion as the professors shall judge most useful, and adapted
to the capacities of their students), the following general order in
teaching Philosophy shall be observed in this University, viz. that the
Semi-year, or second of the course, shall be spent in the most useful
parts of Natural History, in Geography, and the elements of Civil
History; that the Tertian, or third year of the course, shall be
employed in the scientific parts of Natural Philosophy, Mechanics,
Hydrostatics, Pneumatics, Optics, Astronomy, and such other branches not
reducible to any of these, as either are in some measure invented
already, or may be invented and improved hereafter, as Magnetism,
Electricity, &c.; and that the Magistrand, or last year, shall be taken
up in the abstract sciences, or the Philosophy of Spirits, Pneumatology,
Ethics, and Logic, leaving it to the several professors to follow that
order and method in teaching each of the general branches which they
shall find from experience to be most useful and convenient."

On this change being carried into effect, the
students increased greatly in number, and a considerable impulse appears
to have been given to the courses of science and literature, which are
describe-ed by Dr Reid as having been, in his time, "slight and
superficial," as indeed they must, when one instructor had to teach the
whole curriculum. [Stewart's Life of Reid,
p. 10. Dr Reid attended Marischal College in the years 1722-1726.]
The custom of Latin prelections was also gradually discontinued, and
instead of declamations in that language, examinations on the subjects
of the lectures were introduced, at first in Latin, and afterwards in
English, till the former language was retained only at the public
examinations of the classes, where it expired about 1776.

The present curriculum for students in the Faculty of
Arts consists of,—

The meetings are of one hour each. The above numbers
are exclusive of extra meetings, which occur occasionally.

A third and a fourth Greek class, and a third Latin
class, are attended voluntarily by several students of the third and
fourth years; the chemical class is also attended by many during these
years; and a third Mathematical class, which meets daily, is attended by
the mathematical bursars, and by some students of the fourth year.

. The students of all these years also attend a
weekly lecture on Practical Religion, given on Fridays by the Professor
of Divinity, who receives a salary for it under the will of the late
John Gordon, Esq. of Murtle. The morning meetings of the classes are
opened with a prayer; and on the Lord's day a part of the students
attend divine worship in a gallery in the College church; but the
greater number have long been in the habit of accompanying their
relations or friends to other churches in the city, and students of
other religious denominations have never been required to attend in the
Established Church.

The session extends from the last Monday of October
to the first Friday of April. There are no vacations, Christmas and
new-year's days excepted; and regular meetings are held on Saturdays.

Premiums, generally of books, are awarded in the
classes by comparative trial among those students who come voluntarily
forward ; and there have also been instituted a biennial prize of L.20
for an English essay on a subject prescribed by the Principal and
certain of the Professors, who are trustees of Mrs Blackwell's
foundation; and a gold medal of two ounces in weight, which has been
occasionally awarded, under the deed of John Gray, Esq. to such of his
bursars as are certified by the professor of Mathematics, to "possess an
uncommon genius in that science, and to have made discoveries and
improvements therein."

During the last fortnight of the session, a public
examination of each class of the curriculum of Arts is held in presence
of the Principal and Professors, and of all the students and public who
choose to attend. These have always existed; and since 1826, entrance
examinations during the first week of the session have been carried on.
In the latter, all under graduate students wearing gowns, and admissible
to academical honours, are examined o the subjects which are taught in
the classes immediately below those which they are about to enter, and
any who are found to have mad so little progress in their studies as to
be unqualified for receiving sufficient advantage in the higher classes,
are ordered to return to study in those classes, in the subjects of
which they have been found deficient. Students refusing to submit to
this condition are disqualified from holding bursaries, and can enter
the higher classes only as private students, not wearing gowns, or
admissible to the degree of A. M., but in all other respects are on the
same footing as the rest.

The qualifications for the degree of master of arts
are regular attendance for four years in the above classes of the
curriculum, and strict examinations, which are carried on for seven
days, in the Evidences of Christianity, Latin, Greek, Natural History,
Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Moral Philosophy and Logic.

The students of Divinity attend the professors of
divinity, Oriental Languages, and church history during a session of
fifteen weeks, from Christmas to the beginning of April. The courses of
lectures, and the modes followed of delivering discourses and other
exercises, are accommodated to suit the rules of the Church of Scotland.
For a long period, the number of students who attended regularly was far
smaller than that of those who gave partial or irregular attendance, and
who were generally present for a week, or even less, in each session.
About fifty years ago, the synod of Aberdeen recommended the
discontinuance of this irregular attendance, and overtured the General
Assembly on the subject; but it was not till of late years that any
alteration in the laws regulating attendance took place. At Aberdeen,
however, the number of regular and irregular students began to be about
equal in 1820 ; and from the rules of the church, now enforcing
attendance on Hebrew and Church History classes, instead of recommending
it, and from other changes, the proportion of those giving partial
attendance has been still farther reduced.

Medical School.—From an early period there have
been in this city many medical students who obtained their professional
education chiefly from the private instructions of the physicians
established in it, to whom they were engaged as pupils or apprentices,
and whose private practice they witnessed. The institution of an
infirmary in 1742, and of a public dispensary in 1786, added to their
number, from the facilities of instruction being greatly ex-tended; and
in 1789, they associated in originating "The Medical and Chirurgical
Society," which gradually acquired a library, a museum, and an elegant
building in King Street for holding their meetings and collections.

Various attempts to open regular classes by the
professors of medicine and other physicians were made, but discontinued
from want of sufficient support; and, in the discussions of 1786, the
formation of a medical school was held out to the public as one of the
chief advantages to be derived from an union of the Colleges. For some
years previously, courses of botany and chemistry had been carried on in
Marischal College. In the former Statistical Account, published in 1798,
the number of medical students is stated about 30; and in 1802, there
was erected in the court of the college a small anatomical theatre, in
which some courses of anatomy were given. In 1818, the two colleges
joined in giving their sanction to several medical lecturers, each
college nominating alternately to the offices as vacancies occurred.
Under this arrangement, classes of anatomy and physiology, surgery,
institutes of medicine, materia medica, midwifery, and other branches
were carried on, and accommodation provided for them in Marischal
College buildings. The institution of these regular courses was followed
by a great increase in the number of students. In 1839, the agreement,
under which these lecturers were appointed, was broken up, and each
college was left to establish its own medical school. In the same year,
professorships of Anatomy and Surgery were founded in Marischal College
by the Crown, and the Faculty of Medicine in the Senatus Academicus now
consists of four professors, those of Medicine, Chemistry, Surgery, and
Anatomy, who are associated, in a permanent medical committee, with
lecturers on Materia Medica, Institutes of Medicine, Midwifery, and
medical jurisprudence,—practice of physic being taught by the professor
of Medicine, and Botany by the professor of Natural History. The medical
session extends from the first Monday of November to the third Friday of
April, with a vacation at Christmas; and the course of Botany is taught
in summer.

The regulations for granting M. D. in this University
underwent a considerable change about twenty years ago, when the plan of
granting that degree by certificates of merit was abandoned, and
personal examination of candidates substituted, which, in 1830, was
confined to those who had obtained the degree of A. M.; the Senatus
Academicus being of opinion "that no university ought to confer the
degree of M. D. on any one who has not previously taken a degree
in arts." [Evidence, Oral and Documentary,
Vol. iv. p. 331.] But the Royal Commissioners of Visitation
having, in their new plans, proposed to restrict the preliminary
education of such candidates to Greek, Latin, Mathematics, and Natural
Philosophy, the Senatus found that the higher standard which they had
advocated, with a view of adding to the respectability of the medical
profession, could not be supported ; and they have subsequently modified
it, retaining at the same time a full curriculum of medical instruction,
in the last regulations issued in 1840. This extends to four years,
three of which at least must be passed in a University, including one
year at least at this University; and the classes to be attended are
Anatomy, Practical Anatomy, Chemistry, Materia Medica, Institutes of
Medicine, Surgery, Practice of Medicine, and Midwifery, each for a
course of six months; and for courses of three months, Botany, Practical
Chemistry, and Medical Jurisprudence. To these are added hospital
attendance, Clinical lectures on Medicine and Surgery, and the
compounding and dispensing of medicines. Three separate professional
examinations have been instituted for medical degrees, which take place
in April and October, and are conducted partly in writing and viva
voce, and partly by demonstration. To these examinations candidates
are admitted at different terms; to the first one, at the beginning of
the third year of medical classes, and to the others at subsequent
stages. No fees are taken by the College or the examiners for the degree
of M. B. or M. D.,—the expense of the diploma and the Government stamp
on the latter degree excepted.

In the "Evidence, Oral and Documentary," taken in
1826-7, by the Royal Commissioners for Visiting the Universities of
Scotland, and published ten years afterwards, there will be found
detailed statements of the views of the principal and professors of that
time on many important subjects connected with the efficiency of
university education, particularly in a minute examination of the plans
of improvement or alteration proposed by the Commission in the
Curricula of Arts, Theology, and Medicine. (See Vol. iv. p.
321-335.)

In the same volume are contained lists of the number
of students and graduates for a long period, tables of fees, and
complete information as to the whole property, salaries, and endowments
belonging to the college. Under this head it deserves to be noticed,
that the whole of the property with which the college was originally
endowed by its founder, has been preserved and greatly increased in
value, with the exception of some small feu-duties of 1d. and upwards,
most of which had ceased to be collected before 1753, or were disputed,
and of which the whole amount is only L.2, 11s. 1d. Sterling. The Royal
Commission did a useful service by printing this list, and many other
documents connected with the Scottish Universities. (Vol. iv. p.
266-267.) The amount of fees paid by students of arts for instruction
during four sessions, including smaller payments for the library,
college servants, and the expense of taking the degree of A. M. is, at
present, L.27, 2s.; but from the greater part of the bursars, smaller
class fees are charged by the professors. The fees in the classes of law
and medicine are on a scale of equal moderation, and the same is the
case in those of Hebrew and Church History. In the Divinity class, no
fees have yet been taken by the professor. The bursaries, which, as will
be seen from the list of benefactors, are very numerous, are held for
four years, with the exception of the two founded by John Gray, Esq. for
eminence in mathematics, which are held for two sessions only, and the
Ramsay Divinity Bursaries, which are held for three. All the bursaries,
of which the college, and the magistrates and town-council of Aberdeen
have been constituted patrons by their deeds of foundation, have been,
for a very long period, disposed of by an open comparative trial, which
takes place yearly on the last Monday of October. Those, which are under
the patronage of private individuals, are bestowed by presentation. In
some cases, where the disposal of the bursaries has been subjected to
restrictions by their founders, or to preferences in favour of
particular descriptions of students, it sometimes happens that a few are
left vacant from the want of qualified candidates. The funds are then
accumulated, and the annual value to be bestowed is increased. Several
other bursaries, without having been left vacant, have been increased in
value, from the nature of the investment of the funds, or from the
reservation of a small surplus left to accumulate. All the property of
this description has been preserved, except a sum of L.90 lost by a
bankruptcy, and much of it has been increased in value. The Royal
Commission, in their General Report of the Universities of Scotland,
expressed a decided opinion, that the great number of these bursaries in
some of the colleges produces an artificial resort of numbers who
otherwise would never enjoy the advantages of academical education. In
the various arguments adduced in support of their views, one fact ofgreat importance has been omitted,—the superiority of the parish
schoolmasters in the counties of Kincardine, Aberdeen, Banff, Moray, and
other northern counties of Scotland, almost all of whom have received
university education, to those in the southern parts of the country many
of whom have not attended any college. The very low state of education
in England, among those of the same class in society who benefit from
the Scottish schools, and the difficulty experienced in the former
country of obtaining cheap and efficient schoolmasters, may also be
stated in favour of promoting the extension of university instruction in
Scotland. The claim of the Universities to encouragement in fulfilling
this most important part of their duty, is indirectly acknowledged by
the same Commission, when they state respecting the Universities of
Aberdeen, that "they have silently and unostentatiously raised the
intellectual state of Scotland." [General
Report, p. 368.]

College Buildings.—The original buildings of
Marischal College were those of the Franciscan convent on the same site.
Part was appropriated for the residence of students, but no plan or
perspective view of them has been preserved. It would appear that even
in the infancy of the establishment they had been insufficient, for in
1633 the magistrates ordered a house to be fitted up with beds for the
accommodation of students who formerly lodged in the town house.
[Registers of the Town-Council of
Aberdeen, Vol. lii. p. 135.] In 1639, a
part of the monastic edifice was destroyed by fire, and was soon
afterwards rebuilt, chiefly by the munificence of Patrick Dun, M.D.,
then Principal of the College. The buildings having become unsuitable or
ruinous, the Principal and Professors commenced in 1684, the erection of
anew edifice, which was carried on slowly for several years chiefly by
voluntary contributions, some aid from the city funds, and some small
public grants of the vacant stipends of those parishes of which the
Earls Marischal were patrons. The numerous Scottish merchants who in
that age resided in Poland were among the principal contributors. The
highest part of the edifice, the north tower, rose to the elevation of
about 80 feet, and was erected in 1694-95 for an observatory, partly at
the expense of the town. The whole pile was for the time extensive and
not inconvenient; but parts of the interior remained long in an
unfinished state, from the want of funds, and a great economy appears to
have been necessary, as the vouchers of accounts, all of which have been
preserved, abundantly attest. Several portions of the old monastery
remained, and were occupied as class-rooms and students' chambers. Most
of these were taken away, when an extensive wing was erected on the
south side in 1740-41, also by voluntary subscription chiefly, the
attempts made to obtain aid from Government proving abortive. After this
addition, the whole fabric was appropriated for the public purposes of a
hall, library, public school, divinity hall, observatory, natural
philosophy apparatus room, and class-rooms, together with lodgings for
three of the professors, for which they paid rents. The largest
apartments, the public school, hall, and library were respectively of
the lengths of 82, 75, and 97 feet, with a width of 22, and a height of
about 13.

In the court adjoining, there still remains the
ancient church of the Franciscan convent, commonly called the College
church. This edifice was erected about the commencement of the sixteenth
century, by Bishop Gavin Dunbar, and was dedicated to the Virgin. For a
long period, no lofty houses, as at present, intervened between it and
the Broadgate, excepting booths or small shops, which were placed
against its wall by permission of the magistrates. In the various
changes to which the property of the monasteries was subjected at the
Reformation, the church of the Greyfriars seems never to have been lost
sight of by the municipality ; it was then by far the newest church in
the city, and was formally ceded to the magistrates in 1556, when the
Franciscans made a resignation of all their property to them. When, in
1574, the town disposed of the other buildings by feu, the church was
reserved; but the population not being so large as to require it for the
reformed worship, it fell into neglect, and sometimes received repairs.
The General Assembly of the church, which began July 28, 1640, was held
in it. [The church was provided with seats,
"after the form of a theatre, for accommodation of the Assembly, which
was done upon the towne's charges, in so pro-digall a forme, as there
was accommodation eneuch (the churche being large of itselfe) for five
or six times as many as wer appoynted to sitte. And, that Aberdeen might
not be behynde with others in honouring the Assembly, ther was a select
number of the yowthes of Aberdeen ordered, with partisans (made for that
purpose, and dyed blacke,) for to guarde the Assembly constantly at
every sessione without the doores of the churche, through which guarde
everybody must passe as through a line."—Gordon's History of Scots
Affairs, from 1637 to 1641, Vol. iii. p. 215.] The College long
retained a claim for the use of it at the public graduation, and other
privileges, which, after several attempts, were arranged in 1768 by an
agreement with the magistrates; and soon afterwards, the population of
the town increasing, the structure, a very long and plain Gothic hall,
with pointed-arch windows, was shortened 20 feet, an aisle added at the
east side, and a regular clergyman settled in it by the town-council,
who had obtained a gift of the patronage from King Charles I. in 1638.
In the new aisle, one-half of the gallery was set apart for the
students, who had previously been accommodated in the West Church of St
Nicholas.

The sums raised for erecting the College buildings
appear never to have been sufficient to complete them, and the whole
having been constructed when mason and carpenter work were of a very
inferior description in this part of Scotland, they required numerous
repairs annually. The increase of students rendered the classrooms
inconveniently small for many years; and in 1818, a plan of additional
apartments was made, but nothing was done till 1824, when, after a
minute inspection by three architects, who reported that the whole
edifice was in a ruinous state, and incapable of alteration or repair, a
memorial was drawn up, setting forth the necessity of a new structure,
and application was made to the Lords of the Treasury, to whom a plan
and elevation of a new college were submitted in the following year. The
Treasury replied without delay, concurring in rebuilding rather than in
attempting repairs, stating it to be a case in which a grant of public
money might be recommended in addition to private subscriptions, and
remitting to the Barons of the Scottish Exchequer to inquire farther.
Their inquiries having been answered by the College, the Treasury
delayed farther steps till it should be "ascertained how far the union
of the two Universities at Aberdeen in one establishment may be
practicable," and referred to the Royal Commissioners for visiting the
Universities of Scotland for farther information on that head. This
postponed any thing being done for nine years. The report of the
Commission, which began its sittings in 1826, was not made public till
1831: it recommended strongly a union of the seminaries, but towards
accomplishing which, as only general provisions and no particular plans,
in a case affecting so many complicated interests, were stated, nothing
was done; and the College received no certain hope of a public grant
till 1834, when, on their continued applications, the Treasury made
offer of the moiety of a sum of L.30,000, which, by a warrant dated 11th
December 1826, had been set apart by the Scottish Exchequer Barons "to
be applied to the support of certain Universities which were in a
ruinous and dilapidated state," [Return to
the House of Commons in 1831 from the Scottish Court of Exchequer before
its dissolution.] and of which the other half had been received
and expended at St Andrews some years previously, without any aid being
raised by private subscriptions.

The conditions on which the Treasury agreed to
advance the above sum of L. 15,000, together with the interest accruing
on the whole sum set apart in 1826, arose from a proposal made by the
College to guarantee, within five years, the completion of a new edifice
of an extent not inferior to that in the sketches of Mr Reid, His
Majesty's Master of Works in Scotland, who had visited Aberdeen in
February 1834 for the purpose of obtaining information as to the
accommodation required. Their Lordships termed the offer made by the
College "liberal," and considered it unnecessary that the King's
architect should be employed,—the plan and site adopted being still left
subject to their approbation. This allowed the Principal and Professors
again to bring forward, with such improvements as the delay had
suggested, the plans prepared in 1825 by Mr Archibald Simpson,
architect, whose excellent taste and great ability have been displayed
in the new edifice, as they have been in the Assembly Rooms, the
Infirmary, and other principal buildings erected of late years in
Aberdeen.

The subscriptions of the numerous alumni and friends
of the college now commenced, the town of Aberdeen giving L.1050, the
Chancellor of the University, the late George, Duke of Gordon, L.500,
the Principal and Professors, L.500, &c. In about three months, they
amounted to nearly L.5000, but soon afterwards they experienced a check
from the agitation connected with a bill brought into Parliament, which
met with great opposition from the public generally, because it
attempted to divest the Colleges of all management of their property,
and by its provisions for uniting them, to injure greatly the interests
of University education in the north of Scotland. Although this bill was
withdrawn in an early stage, yet the prospect of speedily obtaining the
Government grant continued to be clouded by the revival of the subject
of the Union in other shapes; and it was not till after a tedious
negociation that the Treasury approved of the plan and estimate finally
transmitted by the College, and engaged to pay L.15,000 as soon as
L.6000 of subscriptions were realized, and on these L.21,000 being
expended to their satisfaction, to pay the addition of accrued interest,
the edifice to be completed in June 1841. On this occasion, the
magistrates and town-council of Aberdeen assisted the College in
guaranteeing the erection of a building to the above extent, in the
hope, that, while the work was in progress, a change of circumstances
might induce new subscribers to come forward, and those who had already
subscribed to permit the application of their subscriptions to the
finishing of the work, which many had refused to allow, should the
intended new modelling of the constitution of
the University take place. This hope was realized. The subscriptions
already made were paid, and many new ones received after the agitation
ceased. The Government grant was paid, in August 1836, to the Chancellor
and Rector of the University, the Member of Parliament for the city, the
Provost and the Dean of Guild, all for the time being, who were
constituted a commission for expending it, and the sums subscribed; and
in the same month the building was contracted for. In this transaction
it is proper to preserve a record of the services of Alexander
Bannerman, Esq. M. P. for Aberdeen, to whom the College and the
community are deeply indebted for the exertions which he made towards
obtaining the Government grant, during a negociation complicated with
unusual circumstances, and continued for several years.

In 1841, the Lords of the Treasury, having been
satisfied, from an examination by their agent, that the sum of L.21,000
had been expended, ordered the accrued interest, amounting to L.5853,
9s. 2d., to be paid to the same commissioners, by means of which
they were enabled nearly to complete the building, including many
interior furnishings in the library, class-rooms, &c; although some
expensive fittings, particularly those of the museum, remain to be
provided for. When finished, the whole cost will be about L.30,000;
which, considering the style in which it is erected, and the extent of
accommodation afforded, may be considered as comparatively cheap. In
front the new college presents three sides of a quadrangle/placed nearly
on the site of the old building, which it was necessary to keep up till
the greater part of the new one was so far advanced as to supply
accommodations for teaching the classes. The exterior is of Gothic
architecture, partaking of that seen in many collegiate structures in
England, but in a simple and bold style, in order to harmonize with the
nature of the material, which is the very hard and durable white granite
of the vicinity. In the centre a square tower, terminated by four
ornamented turrets, rises to the height of nearly 100 feet from the
court in front, and, from the fall of the ground, to 120 feet from the
enclosure on the opposite side. On both sides of the principal entrance
are open arcades, 48 feet long, by 16 wide. On the ground-floor the
principal apartment is the public school, 74 feet long, and 34 wide,
used for all purposes where several classes are assembled together, and
for competitions, examinations, &c. A lofty staircase, with a ceiling of
enriched groins and a massive stone balustrade, conducts to the three
principal apartments, which open from the same vestibule,—the Hall, the
Library, and the Museum. The dimensions of the first of these is 71 feet
by 34; of each of the other two, 75 feet by the same width. The interior
altitude of all is about 32 feet to the top of the enriched ceilings,
painted in imitation of oak, Adjoining to the Library are two small
rooms, used for reading, and as an office for the librarian ; and on the
Museum side are. a room for the meetings of the Senatus Academicus, and
one for containing additional articles of Natural History, adjoining to
the class-room in which that science is taught. The astronomical
Observatory is placed in the highest story of the tower. There are six
class-rooms for teaching Greek, Latin, Natural History, Mathematics,
Natural Philosophy, and Moral Philosophy and Logic; one for Scots Law
and Conveyancing; three for Divinity and Oriental Languages, in one of
which is held the Theological library; two others, at present occupied
by the lecturers on Materia Medicaand
Agriculture ; and five used in teaching the Practice of Medicine,
Surgery, Anatomy, Chemistry, and Practical Chemistry. Besides these
seventeen class-rooms, there are also a spacious Chemical Laboratory,
and two rooms adjoining for Chemical Apparatus; a Dissecting-room
adjoining the Anatomical Theatre, and rooms for Anatomical preparations;
an Anatomical Museum, fitted with glass cases and a gallery; and two
rooms for holding the apparatus used in teaching Natural Philosophy. The
college servants have suitable accommodations; and to most of the
classrooms is annexed a closet for the professor; but no part of the
building has been appropriated for lodgings for any of their body, the
whole being set apart for the public purposes of education. The plan of
heating is by warm air supplied from furnaces placed in the sunk story,
excepting in three of the classrooms, in which the circulation of hot
water in iron pipes has been adopted.

When a new and wide street is opened from the College
gate, passing by a gentle declivity towards the East Church, a fine
effect in regard to architectural beauty will be produced, besides the
advantages which the property in the neighbourhood will receive from the
improvement. This design, together with the rebuilding of the College
Church in a style suitable to that of the university, will probably be
carried into effect in a few years.

College Library, Museum, &c.—The library, which
will this year be transferred to the fine apartment destined for it in
the new buildings, consists, for the greater part, of old books, which
have been, on the whole, well preserved. It originated in a collection
of volumes which was made at the Reformation, among which are numerous
manuscripts of parts of the writings of Augustine, Jerome, Gregory, and
other fathers of the church, which belonged to the monasteries in the
city, and were taken charge of by the magistrates on the breaking up of
these establishments. Before the foundation of the college these and
other books, mostly on theological subjects, were kept in the church of
St Nicholas, chiefly for the use of the Reformed clergy, and were called
the Town's Library, and Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica. In 1624, the large
bequest of Mr Thomas Reid, above-mentioned, transferred his library to
the college, where it was united to the books given by Dr Liddel and
those of the Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica. The librarian's salary, for
which Mr Reid also left 6000 merks, was then about 600 merks, the common
interest of money being ten per cent. Some smaller donations of books
were made; and in the oldest catalogue extant, dated 1670, the books of
each donor are distinguished. The number of volumes at present is not
above 12,000. The magistrates appointed the librarian till 1673, when
the right of electing him was claimed by the principal, the four
regents, and the rector of the Grammar school, in terms of Mr Reid's
will, and after a four years' law-suit a decision of the Court of
Session confirmed the claim, and the above-mentioned persons have since
exercised it. From the salary having been for a very long period reduced
to L.14, 3s. 4d., it was found necessary, in 1754, in order to prevent
dilapidations, that each of the regents should in turn take immediate
charge of the Library, giving personal attendance for three years. The
collection is accessible to all under graduates, and to masters of arts,
on condition of a single payment of 7s. 8d., and a deposit of money,
which is returned when required; and literary men or others, not
authorized to claim in these respects, are always allowed the loan of
books on the responsibility of individual professors, subject to an
annual return in October, when all the volumes lent are called in, and
the whole inspected.

It is greatly to be wished that the funds of this
library were increased, the only sources whence new books are purchased
being the above payment, and any fees paid by graduates in divinity of
laws, the whole fees of whose diplomas, excepting the expense of writing
them, have been for a long time given to it; but the number of these has
always been small. The college has never enjoyed the full benefit
arising from the books entered in Stationers' Hall; for only one copy
being sent to Aberdeen, the rightof keeping
them was given, by the Court of Session, in 1737, to the older
establishment, but, as the decision bears, "for the use of both
colleges." The late alteration, by which an annual payment is given to
King's College in lieu of these books, has not remedied the unequal
circumstances in which Marischal College is placed, and which the Royal
Commissioners have represented in their reports.

A theological library was instituted in the year 1700
by the Synod of Aberdeen, who granted the sum of 1000 merks to the
Professor of Divinity in Marischal College, out of the rents of an
estate mortified to support the Professor of Divinity in King's College;
the books purchased "to be set up in a distinct library by themselves in
the Marischal College, or some convenient room in New Aberdeen," "so as
to be patent for all the students of Divinity in both colleges." In
1754, the books were placed in the Divinity Hall of the college, and the
professor continued to select those to be purchased till 1785, when a
committee of the students received the management. The contributors of a
small sum annually for four years are constituted life-proprietors.
There is a printed catalogue of the collection, and the regulations
under which it is managed are sanctioned by the colleges, no alteration
of them being valid unless made with the consent of both colleges, in
order to avoid "the many evils arising from precipitation."

Many articles of curiosity and specimens of natural
history, presented to the college at different times, were lodged in the
Library, till 1786, when a separate apartment was partially fitted up
for them with cases, and which, in 1823, was remodelled and extended. It
is to be ardently hoped that, with the great advantages of display which
the new apartment to be fitted up as a Museum is capable of affording,
this collection will rapidly increase. The present professor of Natural
History is in possession of an extensive museum of objects useful in
teaching that science, particularly in Zoology and Mineralogy, which
have beenpurchased at his own expense.

The Apparatus for teaching Natural Philosophy is
extensive, and articles are added annually to it. It commenced in 1717,
when the Principal and Professors obtained a royal warrant for applying
some vacant salaries towards purchasing instruments; and it appears,
from entries in the college accounts, that the money thus obtained was
laid out under the direction of the celebrated Maclaurin, then Professor
of Mathematics, and probably the first who gave instructions in any
parts of the Newtonian philosophy in this university. In 1726, a printed
proposal was circulated for increasing the apparatus, so as to afford a
complete course of Experimental Philosophy; and in that year, the
Commissioners of Supply for the County of Aberdeen granted some aid to
the design. From 1721 to 1755, a custom prevailed of the graduates in
Arts contributing voluntarily small sums for the same purpose. Soon
after the late Dr Patrick Copland entered as Professor of Natural
Philosophy, he turned his attention to the enlargement of the apparatus;
and being assisted by a small grant from the Board of Trustees for the
Encouragement of Manufactures in Scotland, he employed an able workman
in the construction of a great number of models and other apparatus,
many of them of elegant design. The possession of these allowed him to
commence, in 1786, in addition to the regular course of scientific
lectures, a popular series of instructions in Experimental Philosophy,
illustrating many of the practical applications of science to the
arts and the common purposes of life. These he continued, at intervals,
for many years; and upon his death in 1822, the part of the apparatus
which was his own property was purchased by the College. A catalogue of
this apparatus is kept, and on removing it lately to the new building,
it was for the first time arranged in the order of subjects, the
accommodation for it in the old edifice having become, from its
increase, exceedingly incommodious.

The Astronomical Apparatus is another department
which will benefit considerably from the new edifice, the access to the
old Observatory having been very inconvenient, and the difficulty of
keeping the roof water-tight great. The chief instruments are an
excellent transit, by Ramsden, of 4 feet focus, and 3 inches aperture; a
moveable quadrant, of 2 feet radius, divided by Ramsden; and an
equatorial, with circles of 18 inches diameter, originally made by
Sisson, but afterwards divided anew, and an achromatic telescope added,
by Ramsden. The time-keeper is an excellent instrument, with a gridiron
pendulum, by Mariotte.

There are also the usual auxiliary apparatus, two
reflecting telescopes, and a fine refracting one, double achromatic, by
Dollond, of 4 feet focus, and 2| inches aperture, with a divided
object-glass micrometer, by the same artist.

These instruments were procured by donation or
purchase in 1780 (the Earl of Bute giving the transit and equatorial,)
when Dr Copland originated a subscription for setting on foot an
Observatory, for which the town gave a site on the Castlehill, where the
building was erected. In 1795, Government requiring the site of the
Observatory for a powder-magazine to the barracks then erecting in its
vicinity, it was removed to the north wing of the College, and a grant
of money given in exchange, the greater part of which was expended on
the new arrangements necessary, and the remainder reserved for its
maintenance, under the management of the Principal and Professors. A
collection of books in astronomical and mathematical science is
connected with the Observatory, purchased with a small fund appropriated
to that peculiar purpose by Dr Liddel, who founded and endowed the
mathematical professorship. The late Andrew Mackay, LL. D., was keeper
of the Observatory for some years after its institution; the present
keeper is the Professor of Mathematics, but no salary has ever been
attached to the office.

Eminent Persons educated at Marischal College, or
closely connected with it.—Robert Howie, the first Principal
(1593-98,) author of several theological treatises; translated to Dundee
by the General Assembly, and afterwards appointed Professor of Theology
at St Andrews, and successor to Andrew Melville.

Peter Blackburn, the first in the list of Regents, an
office which he had held previously in the University of Glasgow; Bishop
of Aberdeen, 1603-15. He was the author of a treatise against James
Gordon the Jesuit, and is termed by Wodrow "a judicious and famous
divine."

Robert Gordon, nineteenth Baron of Straloch, was the
first graduate in arts of the university, probably in 1597, and eminent
as a geographer, poet, and antiquary. He was the author of the Atlas of
Scotland, published by Blaeu in 1648, some of the county maps of which
were constructed from his own actual surveys. He died in 1661, in his
eighty-first year.

Gilbert Jacchaeus, or Jack, M. D., was an eminent
writer on various branches of physical and metaphysical science, and
became Professor of Philosophy in the University of Leyden, where he
died in 1628.

Duncan Liddel, M. D., a native of Aberdeen, became
Professor of Mathematics and Medicine in the University of Helmstadt and
published several works on medicine, which were long esteemed Returning
to his native country, he died in 1613, in his fifty-second year, after
bequeathing his books and mathematical instruments to the college, and
founding in it bursaries and the professorship of mathematics. A large
tablet of brass, with his effigies and an inscription, is placed in the
principal church of the city and a monument erected on the lands of
Pitmedden in memory of him, has been lately repaired by the magistrates
and town-council.

Thomas Reid, A. M., was appointed one of the masters
of the Grammar School in 1602, and afterwards became Secretary in the
Greek and Latin tongues to King James VI., and
wrote Latin poems, many of which are preserved in the Delitiae Poetarum
Scotorum; and in the same work there is an elegant epicedium upon him by
Sir Robert Aytoun. He bequeathed his valuable library of books to the
college, and a fund for a librarian Among them are a fine manuscript of
the Hebrew Scriptures, of which Kennicott had the use when engaged in
his collation; many folio Alduses; and Reid's transcript of King James's
work on the Revelations, with alterations in his Majesty's hand-writing.

David Wedderburn, A. M., Rector of the Grammar-School
of Aberdeen, 1602-1640, wrote several Latin poems, which are in the
Delitiae Poetarum Scotorum, and for some years taught a humanity class
in the college.

William Forbes, A. M., 1601, fourth Principal of the
college, 1618-1621, and the first Professor of Divinity, 1616-1625, and
afterwards Bishop of Edinburgh, a see which Charles I. erected for him,
as one of the most learned divines of the time. He was one of the first
who took the degree of D. D. after the introduction of that dignity
among the reformed clergy of Scotland.

Robert Baron, D. D., the second Professor of
Divinity, 1625-1639, author of "Philosophia Theologian Ancillans," and
several other theological works.

Patrick Dun, M. D., the pupil and friend of Dr Liddel,
was Principal of the college, 1621-1649, and bequeathed his estate of
Ferryhill for the support of the Grammar school of Aberdeen.

William Johnston, M. D., of the family of Caskieben,
Professor of Philosophy in. the University of Sedan, and afterwards the
first Professor of Mathematics in Marischal College, on Liddel's
foundation, 1626-1640.

Arthur Johnston, M. D., younger brother of the
former, author of Latin poems, and of a well-known translation of the
Psalms of David into that language. He studied medicine at Padua, and
"afterwards settled in France; returning in 1633, he became Physician to
King Charles I, and died at Oxford in 1641. George Jameson, born at
Aberdeen in 1586, studied with Van-dyck under Rubens, and became
celebrated as a painter. Some fine portraits by him are preserved in the
College Hall.

William Guild, (A. M. 1604,) D.D., author of a
Harmony of the Prophecies and many other theological treatises, and the
en-dower of the Incorporated Trades' Hospital of Aberdeen, and founder
of bursaries. He was Principal of King's College, 1640-1651.

Alexander Ross, chaplain to King Charles L, was the
author of "Virgilius Evangelizans," "A View of all Religions," and
upwards of thirty other works. He bequeathed two bursaries at his death
in 1654.

Alexander Jaffray of Kingswells, Provost of Aberdeen
during the civil wars, Member of Parliament, and one of the Scottish
Commissioners sent to invite Charles II. in
1650. He afterwards became a leader among the Quakers, and his
interesting Diary has been of late years discovered at Ury, the seat of
the Barclays, and published.

John Menzies, D. D., Professor of Divinity,
1649-1681, author of "Roma Mendax," and other works.

James Gordon, fifth son of Robert Gordon of Straloch,
minister of Rothiemay, in Aberdeenshire, and author of "A Description of
bothe Towns of Aberdeene," for which he made a survey and map; and also
of a "History of Scots Affairs from 1637 to 1641," both of which works
have been lately printed by the Spalding Club.

Robert Morison, M. D., the celebrated botanist, and
the first lecturer on Botany in the University of Oxford, author of
"Plan-tarum Historia Universalis," 3 vols. 1672-1699.

David Gregory of Kinardie, Librarian of the College,
1663-1669, and father of David, Savilian Professor of Astronomy at
Oxford.

James Gregory, M, D., younger brother of the former,
published in 1663, "Optica Promota," in which he gave a plan of that
Reflecting Telescope, which has been called after him. He was Professor
of Mathematics at St Andrews, 1668-1674, and afterwards at Edinburgh,
where he died in 1675, in his thirty-seventh year having displayed in
his various writings the highest talents in mathematical science.

Gilbert Burnet, D. D., Bishop of Salisbury, the
celebrated author of the History of the Reformation in England, the
History of his own Times, and many other works; founded bursaries.

John Arbuthnott, M. D., Physician to Queen Anne, and
the friend of Pope and Swift, with whom he was associated in several
works.

William Meston, A. M., appointed Regent in November
1715, by the last presentation signed by Earl Marischal; expelled in
1717, having been active in the Rebellion; author of poems which have
gone through several editions.

George Keith, the last Earl Marischal of Scotland,
alumnus 1708-1712; resided long at Berlin as the friend of Frederick the
Great, and died there in 1778.

James, his brother, at College, 1712-1715,
Field-Marshal in the service of the same prince, and killed at the
battle of Hoch-kirchen in 1758.

George Turnbull, LL.D., Regent 1721-1727, author of
Principles of Moral Philosophy, and of a Treatise on Ancient Painting.

James Gibbs, the celebrated architect, among whose
works are, St Martin's Church, London, and the Radcliffe Library,
Oxford.

Colin Maclaurin, A. M., appointed Professor of
Mathematics in 1717, in his nineteenth year; in 1727, removed to the
same chair in Edinburgh, on the recommendation of Sir Isaac Newton.

Robert Keith, A. M., Bishop of Caithness and Orkney
in the Scots Episcopal Church; author of a History of Scotland, and of
the Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops.

Alexander Cruden, A. M., Author of the Concordance to
the Bible; founded a bursary.

Thomas Blackwell, LL. D., son of the former,
Principal, 1748-1757, and Professor of Greek, 1723-1757; author of
"Letters on Mythology," " Life of Homer," and "Memoirs of the Court of
Augustus."

David Fordyce, (A. M., 1728,) Regent, 1742-1751,
author of "Dialogues on Education," a "Treatise on Moral Philosophy,"
and other works.

William Duncan, (A.M., 1737,) Professor of Moral
Philosophy, 1753-1760, author of a Treatise on Logic, and Translations
of Caesar's Commentaries, and part of Cicero's Orations.

John Stewart, A. M., Professor of Mathematics,
1727-1766, Author of "Sir Isaac Newton's Two Treatises on the Quadrature
of Curves explained," 4to, 1745.

Thomas Reid, (A. M., 1726), D. D., the celebrated
author of the "Inquiry into the Human Mind," "Essays on the Intellectual
and Active Powers," &c, was for some years the College Librarian,
afterwards Professor at King's College, whence he removed in 1763, to
the Moral Philosophy chair at Glasgow.

Alexander Gerard, (A. M., 1744), D. D., Professor of
Moral Philosophy, 1752-1760, and of Divinity, 1760-1771, when he removed
to the same chair in King's College; author of an Essay on Taste,
Dissertations on the Genius and Evidences of Christianity, Sermons, &c.

Gilbert Gerard, (A. M., 1775), son of the former,
Professor of Greek in King's College, 1790-1796, and of Divinity,
1796-1815; edited and continued his father's works on Biblical
Criticism, and Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion.

George Campbell, (A. M., 1738), D. D., Principal,
1759-1795, and Professor of Divinity, 1776-1796; author of the Essay on
Miracles, Translation of the Gospels, Philosophy of Rhetoric, Lectures
on Ecclesiastical History, &c.

Sir William Fordyce, M. D., brother of the preceding,
(A. M. 1742), physician in London, and author of several medical works;
Lord Rector of the University, 1790-1792; bequeathed his library, and
founded a lectureship on Agriculture.

George Fordyce, M. D., nephew of the former, (A, M.,
1751 M. D,, 1758); lecturer and physician in London; author of "Elements
of Agriculture and Vegetation," and many medical works and papers in the
Philosophical Transactions.

William Trail, LL. D., Professor of Mathematics,
1766-1778; afterwards Chancellor of the diocese of Down and Connor;
author of "Elements of Algebra," and "Life of Dr Robert Simpson;" died
at Bath in 1831. .

Robert Hamilton, LL. D., Professor of Mathematics,
1779-1829; author of "an Inquiry into the National Debt," " Introduction
to Merchandise," "The Progress of Society," and other works.

James Beattie, (A. M., 1783,) Professor of Civil and
Natural History, 1788-1810; an excellent Latin scholar, and the first
discoverer of the Linnaea borealis in Scotland, in 1795,
and of many other plants of the British Flora.

William Laurence Brown, D. D., Principal and
Professor of Divinity, 1795-1830; author of Essays on "Scepticism," "the
Natural Equality of Man," "the Existence of a Supreme Creator," "a
Comparative View of Christianity," &c.

John Stuart, A. M., Professor of Greek, 1782-1827;
author of a Life of Dr Duncan Liddel, and of papers on the Roman
Progress in Scotland, &c. in the Archaeologia Scotica.

Alexander Chalmers, (A. M., 1778), LL. D., F. S. A.;
editor of the "General Biographical Dictionary," "the British Poets,"
"the British Essayists," and many other works.

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